Apple Hires Nvidia Artificial Intelligence Expert Jonathan Cohen

Apple has hired artificial intelligence expert Jonathan Cohen away from Nvidia, reports Re/code. Interestingly, Cohen's skills may be put to work on an autonomous vehicle.

Deep learning, as Re/code has documented, is a branch of artificial intelligence prized at tech companies for its ability to train computers to process patterns in large reams of visual data. Lately, Nvidia has used the technique for cars. The company sells its chips — graphic processing units, or GPUs — to carmakers, which use it to power cameras and radar that enable vehicles to drive autonomously.

“This is a big hire for Apple,” Chris Nicholson, co-founder of deep learning startup Skymind.io. “Nvidia’s GPUs are being used to power auto-pilot systems in cars, so the implications are pretty clear.”

Apple is widely believed to be working on an electricself-driving vehicle. Recent reports say that Apple has upgraded the electric car to a 'committed project' giving it a target ship date of 2019. In a recent interview, CEO Tim Cook said, "I do think that industry is at an inflection point for massive change. Not just an evolutionary change."